Switching Sides
by SapphireStar
Summary: Three maximals are kidnapped, and taken to the predacon base .... 4th in the WCS Series


Switching Sides   
- Lady Sapphire Star   


Disclaimer: You should know this by now; but, here it is anyway: I do not own the Beast Wars TV show; or the characters that belong in the show. The original characters do belong to me.   
  


Maximal Base… 

  


Optimus Primal was up early; as was a custom for the maximal leader. Often, he was up and pondering things long before even Rhinox dared to wake. 

The thing that seemed to be bothering him this morning was the problem of Megatrons newest recruits…particularly the fuzor femme. 

After Cheetor had returned to base a few nights back from a patrol; limping and bruised from a battle, the young cat had surprised all that the cheetah femme, Sapphire, had helped the scout instead of finishing the job the other predacons had started. 

Of course, Rattrap added in his comment… 

Flashback… 

"…I was in this clearing, trying to call the base, when I saw her walk into the clearing." Cheetor continued the report, with everyone listening with slight interest. 

"Her? Her who Cheetor?" Silverbolt questioned. 

"Sapphire – you know, that new pred femme who's a cheetah with wings." He answered the fuzor. "Anyway, she actually looked surprised at seeing me there; I mean, she was the pred in maximal territory. Well, we saw the storm coming…and she said we oughta get to shelter before the storm hits. 

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you tellin' me 'dis pred girl offered to help ya? Heh, dats a bit strange ta me." 

"Yea…she almost seemed like a maximal; but with a bit of an attitude." 

End Flashback… 

"Hey Boss Monkey; ain't ya up a bit early?" Rattrap said as he walked into the control room. 

Primal grinned slightly. " Good morning Rattrap. Aren't you up a bit early?" 

The rat simply shrugged. 

Dinobot soon came into the room, and grunted a greeting to the maximals. 

"So, boss monkey, what do we get to do today?" Rattrap asked, using a sarcastic tone of voice. 

"Hey everyone!" Cheetor called as he walked into the room in beast mode. Seeing that the table was not being used, he easily jumped up onto it. 

"Kid, are ya ever gonna stop doin' that?" Rattrap said, watching the transmetal cheetah jump onto the table. 

"Umm… no." 

Optimus shook his head at the two, trying to hide a chuckle. "As I was saying Rattrap, you, Cheetor, and Dinobot are going on a scouting mission. Rhinox managed to locate an energon deposit in Grid Epsilon. You three are to go and check it out. Understood?" 

Dinobot snorted. "I am a warrior, not a retriever!" 

Rattrap scoffed at the dinosaur. "Eh, get over it, Dinobutt!" 

"Was I addressing you, Vermin!?" Dinobot turned, glaring at the 'vermin'. 

"An' just whatta ya gonna do about it, Scalebrain!?" 

"I'll-" 

"Start heading out to get the energon." Cheetor butted in, peeling Rattrap off of Dinobot. 

Dinobot followed, not happy with the assignment.   
  


Heading to Grid Epsilon…   
  
"I can't believe he put us on such a pathetic little assignment!" NightDawn said in disgust, for the millionth time. 

"Why don't you quit your whining NightDawn." 

"Drones! Quiet yourselves! The Royalty demands that we complete this task without hesitation!" Inferno, the ever-boring ant, spoke up. 

"Bzzz…why world hate Wazzpinator?" Waspinator was the final bot in the little group. 

"Silence, drone of the colony!" 

"Put it this way NightDawn, I'm not the only one here that can 'bug' you." Goliath retorted to the girl. 

"Oh, you're such a comedian Goliath." Was the sarcastic reply. 

"Hush now, the both of you – we're almost there." 

Once the quartet reached the energon deposit, they discovered that they were not alone. 

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the maximals. Come to steal our energon?" 

All three maximals paused in what they were doing, to look in annoyance at the predacons. 

"Yer energon? Whattya talkin' about, 'yer energon'? We was here first!" Rattrap yelled. 

"Oh, sorry, but you all are on pred turf…that means, its ours! Quicksilver… TERRORIZE!" He and the other predacons transformed, as did the maximals. 

"*snarl* Dinobot…Maximize!" 

They all began fighting, NightDawn taking on Cheetor, Goliath faced off with Dinobot, while Rattrap took on Inferno. Waspinator buzzed around, shooting at the maximals, but missing…until Dinobot hit him with his eye lasers, knocking him out. 

This, however, gave Goliath an opening. Taking his club, he smashed it hard over Dinobot's head, knocking him unconscious. 

Distracted by what happened to Dinobot, Rattrap and Cheetor were both taken out quickly. 

Quicksilver smirked. "Lets get back to base…Megatrons going to love this." 

NightDawn looked at him. "But…what about the energon?" 

"We can come back for it."   


The Darksied… 

  
Megatron sat in his throne, scheming from the look on his face. 

And what was I doing? 

…monitor duty. What fun… 

"Mighty Megatron!" I turned quickly as Quicksilver marched in. 

Megatron looked, up and scowled. 

"What? I suppose you are here to report your failure in collecting the energon?" 

Quicksilver smirked. "We do not have the energon, sire; but we have something that I think you might like better." 

Megatron sat up slightly, waiting. "Well?" 

Goliath, Inferno, and NightDawn came in, each dragging something. 

Quicksilver made a bowing motion. "Three of the maximals – surely they will make good bargaining chips against the maximals?" 

By now, I could clearly see who they had brought. Glancing at Megatron, I could see his mood changed greatly. 

"You have done well today. Take them and put them in some cages." 

The four of them left, dragging Cheetor, Dinobot, and Rattrap behind them. 

Quietly, I got up and followed them. 

Unfortunately, Megatron saw me. 

"Sapphire – you will guard the prisoners, understand?" 

I groaned, but nodded as I left.   


  
Growling could be heard in the room that I headed to; obviously from Dinobot. Looking in, I saw Blackarachnia standing there taunting the three maximals. Somehow, all three were up, but all still had damage. 

I smirked, nearly laughing at Dinobot's quick temper, and the rat's crude remarks. 

"Are you taunting the poor little maximals Blacky? You know you shouldn't do that." I called to the widow spider, startling all four transformers. 

Blackarachnia turned to give me an annoyed look. "Of course I'm taunting them…what do you want pussy cat?" 

I walked around the room, standing in front of Rattrap's cage. 

"I'm here to play guard by old grape face's orders." 

The spider gave up her taunting game, and began walking out of the room. 

"Well, have fun then." 

I nodded, then jumped back as Rattrap had lunged at the bars to try to hit me. 

"Great – we get rid o' one pred, and get another one. And why you?" Rattrap said, sneering. 

"*snarl* … Megatron would send a female to 'guard' us." Dinobot snarled, seeming disgusted. 

"Well, deal with it leatherhead – you've gotta put up with me." I said to him, going into beast mode. 

Ruffling my feathers, I looked the three over closely. I had at least one meeting with each of them, but was looking now at the details. 

All three were in bot mode. Dinobot was tall – about as tall as Titan… 

The thought made me wince, and I wished I was still on Cybertron. From my sitting position, I had to look up at the three of them. 

A flood of odd memories hit me, as all three of them somehow reminded me of my 'family' that I had left back on Cybertron. Rattrap reminded me of Kitty and her attitude; while Cheetor, in a way, could be compared to Blacky – both had a more 'positive' outlook for everything. 

" Will ya quit staring at us? Yer freakin' me out here." Rattrap's annoying voice called out, breaking my train of thought. 

Cheetor glared at the rat. 

"Why don't you quit complaining Ratface?" 

The rat returned the glare. 

"Why don't you hush Spots? She's a pred, so what's it matter what I say to 'er?" 

Cheetor was about to reply to him, but cut off whatever he was going to say – Megatron walked into the room. 

"Well, well, well… what have we here? Some helpless little maximals, all stuck in a cage?" 

Dinobot snarled loudly, optics shooting daggers at Megatron. 

"* growl* let us out of here Megatron … or are you a coward!?" 

I looked up at Megatron, but stayed silent. He smiled, a chilling grin – he's scheming. 

" I will not let you out, no. But you will be able to see your base again , soon enough…once Optimus surrenders." 

Cheetor looked up at the purple transmetal. 

"Optimus will never surrender to you!" 

"Oh, pussy cat….he will surrender – IF he want's to see the three of you still functioning." Megatrons grin grew wider at the looks on the maximal's faces. 

"So what are you going to do with them in the meantime Megatron?" Blackarachnia's voice piped up from her position on the ceiling. 

Grrr…that annoying spider. She must have come in when Megatron did. 

" I think I will leave them in the cages… later, I think we will have to do some 'interrogations' , yesss." 

Interrogations? Not very good… 

Then help them…> A little voice in my head spoke up. 

What if I don't want to?> 

Hehe… that's just it – you do want to .> 

Slag. Stupid voice was right. 

"You ain't gonna get away wit' this, you ol' bucket 'a bolts!" Rattrap yelled to the now retreating form of Megatron. 

"Oh yes vermin, yell after him like he's going to answer!" Dinobot glared at Rattrap; he was standing like he had a sword in his hands. 

Well, if I was going to help them, I think I would need to start by getting their weapons back…but where? 

Getting up, I jumped up onto the top of Cheetor's cage. 

"Hey, spots – do ya know where they've put your weapons and stuff?" 

He looked away from his two 'comrades' and stared up at me. 

"Umm…I dunno? Why?" 

I shook my head, jumping off the cage; using my wings to glide down. 

"Eh….yer mother was a Junkion!" Rattrap yelled back at Dinobot. 

I groaned to myself – this had better be worth it. Looking in the hall, I saw no one there. I slid out, going down to one of the small armory room. Before I could get in, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. 

Turning, I saw it was Quickstrike. 

Terrific. Saying a silent prayer to Primus, I put on a fake, cheerful smile, hoping that he would just be passing by. 

"Is something the matter, Quickstrike?" 

He tapped his head lightly, as if thinking. "Well, eh…not really suga 'gal … just thought you might need some help 'er somethin'. What are you doing anyways?" 

"I'm um…looking for the armory! See, Megatron asked me to go and get some things out of there and inspect them…you wouldn't happen to know where it is would you?" 

He made some odd noise of his, like a laugh. 

"Well, sure I know where it is! C'mere, an' I'll show ya." 

He led me down the hall, talking the whole way…whether he was talking to me or to himself, or maybe both, I wasn't sure. Towards the end of the hall, where some lava came in, he stopped at a door. 

"Well, 'ere we are suga gal. Erm … you gonna need some help with that stuff? A lot of pieces are purty heavy for a small gal like yerself." 

I blinked, trying to figure out what he said. "Umm… no, I'll be fine. Bye." 

"Well, yer sure, cuz-" 

"Yes! I'm sure!" I growled. He jumped, startled, and began going back down the hallway. 

Transforming to bot mode, I began to look around. 

The maximals' weapons were easily spotted – the bright paint on them made them stand out against all the other weapons. While collecting those, I saw a few other items of interest… no one would miss them. A glaive, some bombs, and some large laser guns. 

Once I was done, I innocently slipped back out into the hall, going back to beast mode. 

Dinobot and Rattrap were still trading insults when I stepped back in, with Cheetor acting as a spectator. 

…a sudden thought struck me. 

If I help them out of here…I'll have to join the maximals… 

Did I want to do that? 

Sighing, I transformed to bot mode. 

…I'll figure out that question later. Right now … I need to help these three. 

Looking around, I didn't see any of the other predacons. 

I leaned against the wall, watching the ex-pred and maximal arguing. Dinobot noticed me first, and cut off the argument to glare and growl at me. Rattrap and Cheetor also noticed me, the rat looking like Dinobot, and the cheetah looked curious. 

"A female … what a disgrace! Why would that coward send a female to guard us!" Dinobot snarled, ready to lunge if he got out of the cage. 

I rolled my optics. "Jeez, how do you guys put up with those two? They're both annoying." I commented to Cheetor as I walked over to the cages. 

He grinned slightly. "Everyone's used to it by now." All three watched as I took out, one by one, their weapons from my sub-space pocket. 

"Grrr… now you plan to taunt us, with having our weapons right out of reach! *growl* Blasted female…" 

I growled in return, then glanced over his sword. Turning it hilt first, I slipped it through the bars. He looked at it warily, as if it was an illusion. 

Impatient, I pushed the sword toward him more. 

"Come on, I don't have all day for you to stare at it. I gotta get the three of you out of here before grape face comes in … then all four of us are in for it." 

"Why are you helpin' us? You 're a pred." Rattrap questioned. 

I sighed. "My reason's are my own rat. Now, are you going too stand there all day?" Dinobot had finally taken his sword, and I took out Rattrap's gun, and handed it to him. 

I broke open their cages quickly, then went to Cheetor, and got out his tail-whip. Breaking the lock on the cage, he jumped out, then went and stood by the other two. 

I turned, and motioned for them to follow.   


Meanwhile… 

In Megatron's throne room, he watched in anger as Sapphire freed the three maximals. 

"No matter…they will not escape." He looked towards Inferno, who was standing by diligently. 

"Inferno! Get Quicksilver, NightDawn, and Goliath, and make sure that the maximals and that traitor femme doesn't escape." 

The ant bowed. 

"As you wish, my Queen!"   
  
Megatron glared at the retreating ants form. 

" Would it be so hard for him to call me king?"   


I looked around the corner, making sure no one was coming. 

Turning back, I signaled for the others to follow. 

"How much farther Saph?" Cheetor whispered in my audio receptor. 

"Not too much farther…" We rounded the corner, and then another. 

"Going somewhere Sapphire?" All at once, the four of us stopped. There, standing in front of us, blocking the hallway, where Quicksilver, Goliath, NightDawn, and Inferno. 

"What do you want Quicksilver?" I asked him, annoyed. 

NightDawn spoke up, hatred in her voice. 

"We are going to stop you, traitor." Quickly, she had her blaster out, and lunged at Rattrap. That was a cue for the others, as Goliath went for Dinobot, Inferno for Cheetor, and Quicksilver faced off with me. 

"Did you actually think you could get away with this, Tour'quoi? If you did, you're even more pathetic than I thought." He hissed at me, lunging in with his double-barreled gun. 

I dodged, a bullet grazing my arm. Kicking out with my right foot, I caught him in the torso, knocking the wind out of him. Quickly, I came down on his back with my elbow, sending him to the floor. 

"Did you really think you could beat me that easily with your little words?" I taunted him as he tried to stand. 

While he was still trying to recover, I took out my bow and an arrow from my sub- space pocket. I fitted the arrow to the string, and aimed. 

He stood, sneering, and took aim with his gun. 

I fired the arrow at the same time he fired a round of bullets. 

The arrow lodged itself dead center of his chest. 

Unfortunately, I got hit with more than a few of his bullets, but he went down, unconscious.   
  
Leaning against the wall, I looked at the current situation. NightDawn was out, as well as Inferno – his head had been 'dislodged' from the rest of his body. 

The only one of the four left standing was Goliath. All three of the maximals were attacking him, and it looked like both sides were having a rough time. 

I took another arrow, and, fitting it to the bow, aimed for the head. Just as I loosed, he moved, so the arrow went deep into his left arm. 

Snarling, he turned at me, walking with a now definite limp from what looked like Dinobot's sword. 

Frantic, I took another arrow, fitted it and loosed. It went straight through his left optic and into his head. 

He went down with a loud thud. 

Panting, I went over to the maximals. 

"You guys… alright?" I put my bow away, and brought out my staff. 

Dinobot stood, nursing a deep slash to the mid-section. 

"We will *snarl* function. Will you?" 

I nodded. 

"I'll live. Lets get going. If Megatron sent them, he's prob'ly already sending reinforcements." 

Cheetor helped up Rattrap, both looking slightly worse the wear. 

All four of us began again down the halls of the predacon base.   
  


"Optimus, we're getting a hail from the predacon base." Rhinox said, looking over at the transmetal leader. 

The gorilla looked up from the holo- map. 

"On screen Rhinox." 

Optimus came to stand by the console as Megatron's grinning face came into view. 

"Greetings Optimus. I'm sure by now you are wondering where three of your maximals are, yess?" 

Optimus frowned. 

"What have you done with them Megatron?" 

The purple predacon smirked. 

"Oh, nothing … yet. But I will do something … unless…you surrender to me." 

"No. We will not surrender to you Megatron!" Rhinox interjected, enraged. 

Megatron gave an uncaring look to Rhinox, then turned back to Optimus. 

"Think it over Primal … I'll give you one hour." 

Megatron then disconnected the link. 

"What are we going to do Optimus?" 

The maximal leader had a grim look on his face. 

"Get the others here. We're going to go rescue Dinobot, Cheetor, and Rattrap."   
  


Rattrap stopped, leaning against a wall. 

"I … didn't know … this slaggin' place was so big." 

Cheetor nodded; Dinobot just stood there. 

"Well … lets get moving." 

We did get moving, but we didn't get far – the base was shaking for some reason. 

"What is *snarl* going on now!?" 

I shook my head. 

"Could it be an attack? Or an earthquake?" Cheetor asked, slight worry in his voice. 

Suddenly, Blackarachnia, Quickstrike, Tarantulas, and Waspinator stood in front of us… 

"Hehe … well if it ain't some maxi's … whatta'ya doing wit' those maxi's?" 

Quickstrike spoke, that western accent is really annoying. 

"Gee… what's it look like Snake Face? I'm having a tea party." 

The other predacons snickered. 

"Bzz… why whitekittybot turn traitor?" 

I didn't get a chance to answer, because Dinobot stepped up in front of them.   
" *snarl* Move aside Predacons, or I will be forced to take action!" 

Blackarachnia groaned. 

"Take action on this." 

Calmly, she lifted her crossbow, and fired it at Dinobot. 

It hit him in his left midsection, causing Cheetor and Rattrap to fire at the four preds. 

Waspinator was out instantly, having been blown into a wall. 

I darted over to Dinobot, to try and see if he'd be ok. 

'Try' being the key word. 

"Think you'll manage it Dinobot?" 

He growled at me, and took out his sword, and lunged into the fray. 

Guys … ugh. 

The ship continued to rock as it was barraged with hits. 

Something caught my attention in the corner of my optic … 

Tarantulas was trying to escape! 

I drew only one katana, and followed him. 

… The maximals can take care of themselves. For now. 

The hall ended up being a dead end. Tarantulas turned and jumped a bit in surprise. 

"Hehehe… so you followed me. Put your toy away kitty, I do not feel like fighting you." 

I eyed him warily, but did not put my katana away. 

"Give Megatron my regards." He cackled insanely, then threw something to the floor. Just as quickly, he opened a secret panel in the wall. 

I looked down at the small object he had thrown down…   
  
A purple stone? 

Shrugging, I picked it up and put it in my sub – space pocket, and ran to catch up with the oth- the maximals. 

Surveying the scene, I almost laughed. Either the few preds had been put into stasis – lock, or they fled. Either way, the only shell laying around was Waspinator's – oh, nevermind. Quickstrike's had been thrown a little ways down the hall. 

We were passing through the last hallway to where the lifts were, when all four of us were thrown backwards… 

The maximals had blown the wall in! 

Cheetor and Rattrap leapt to their feet, cheering. Dinobot just got up and grunted. 

We heard a loud roar, and I turned. Megatron, followed by Quicksilver and his three goons, were charging the maximals. 

"Maximals! Lets move out!" Optimus yelled to them. He saw me, gave a curious look, and shrugged. On an impulse, I followed as well. 

Besides, what do I have to lose? 

"I'll get you for this Primal! Yesss…."   


Well into Maximal Territory…   


"Um, Optimus, what'er we gonna do about her?" Rattrap stopped, and pointed in my direction. 

I had been following them quietly, not sure of what to do. I stopped, and watched them, waiting to see what they would do…blast me, tell me to get lost … or who knows what with this group. 

"Hmm… I don't know…what do you think Rhinox?" Optimus's voice sounded chiding as he turned to the scientist. 

"She did help Dinobot, Rattrap, and Cheetor out in the pred base…Dinobot?" The rhino looked at the raptor. 

I wanted to glare and walk off – I could probably survive on my own – but I stayed put, and remained stoic. 

The raptor looked stern.   
"As much as I dislike saying this … and I had might as well , or you all will be toying with the girl … she did save us, and has proved herself … unlike the other predacons. She is not stupid, I've noticed, and seems to possess a certain type of honor. I think, if she will, she should join the maximals." 

There was an odd silence between everyone. They must not have been expecting that … and frankly, neither was I. 

"Will you? Join us – we could use a cat like you." Optimus broke the silence, and directed his voice at me. 

"You would … accept me, a predacon? After I nearly gave your computer a virus that would have let the predacons possibly destroy you?" 

He nodded. Next to him, in beast mode, Cheetor stepped up, coming nearly face to face with me. 

"You could have gotten rid of me, that time in the jungle. But you didn't. Instead, you helped me – you could have finished what the other preds had started, or you could have just left me there for the storm." 

He finished, then went back by the others. This time, Rattrap voiced his opinion. 

"Eh, you're a kid … but we owe ya fer what ya did fer Spots – and fer helpin' the three o' us outta there." 

I looked at them all, uncertain. Finally, I smirked. 

"Well, why not? I guess I can't get into to any more trouble at your base than I could at the pred base." 

Silently, I changed my access codes from Predacon to Maximal. 

I jogged to catch up with them, as they – we, started off to the base. 

It was strange … this isn't anything like the preds. Everyone's talking, laughing … 

This is gonna take some getting used to …   


"…and Airrazor said you could clean out her quarters and use them, since she hardly ever comes into base. And if she does, she usually stays with Tigatron." 

Cheetor was hyper now that he'd gotten in the CR Chamber. Optimus had told him to take me on a 'tour' of the base – like there was a lot to see after my last 'visit'. 

Both of us were in bot mode the whole time. Silverbolt came down the hall, and stopped, a shocked look on his face. 

"Wh…?" 

He looked confused. 

" Hey 'bolt. Don't worry, Saph's on our side now." 

'Bolt' gave us an ' oh really' look. Cheetor nodded, smiling. Unfortunately, the smiling was catching, and I smiled as well. 

"Yea – Optimus let her join for helping Rattrap, Dinobot, and me out of the pred base." 

" Well then, it is an honor to welcome you into the maximal ranks milady." 

Uhh…yea. " Umm…thanks, I think." 

Silverbolt nodded, then continued down the hall. 

Cheetor pointed out the room he was talking about, then said he had to go do something. 

I closed the door, then sighed, and looked around the already bare room. 

So much for cleaning it out … there was nothing here. 

Luckily, all I had in my possession – besides my weapons, was a small bag with some things in it. 

I dumped out the bag on the recharge bed, and lazily set things about the room…except for one thing. 

The disc my mother had left with me…and – wait a minute. 

There was something new in there, something I hadn't put in there before. Three more discs. Two were plain, and one was marked 'Sapphire'. 

Shrugging, I put the three discs in the bag until I could look at them.   


*************** 

On Cybertron…   


"We have to find Sapphire!" 

"How? None of us know where she is, save that Quicksilver and company took off with her." 

"Titan – you're the Rogue, now that Saph's gone … you know that. So go find some of the Seers, and get them to work their creepy magic!" 

The tall Tour'quoi leader turned sharply on his heel. 

"With nothing to go on!? Get real Kitty." 

The third member of the group, a young femme, Blacky, sighed. 

"We have to do something! What if … she comes around, and Sapphire isn't here!?" 

There was a knock at the door. Kitty, a femme the same age as Blacky, quickly opened the door. 

Standing there was a young male bot, a little younger than Kitty. He was breathless, a sign he had been running. Kitty looked down the hall, and shooed him in. 

"She's…back in the past … in … the Beast Wars…"   
  



End file.
